I have been trying to get people to set up a pool on who goes first: Schiavo, the Pope, or Prince Rainier.

Yes, I am a bitch.

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"We're targeting an evangelical Christian market, and therefore your book must not contain anything that would offend any Evangelical Christian."

I suppose "evangelical Christian" was too long a phrase to use in all their marketing stuff. Still, it fosters the illusion that the only kind of Christian is an evangelical one.

Not that I'm into chick lit or hey-you-be-a-Christian lit (as opposed to literature by Christians or about Christianity, which I do consume on occasion), so my complaint is more of a general sociolinguistic gripe.

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$10 on Schaivo.

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Steph yes, it has to be attached at least 24 hours. You should be good.

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well maybe I am missing something, but my guess is if you're a writer and you're jonesing to break into the Christian romance market, specifically wanting to identify your work as Christian and seeking to have it sold in Christian bookstores, then that is not a surprise.

As a Christian, I don't go to Christian bookstores when wanting to by books on faith. I go to mainstream bookstores, because I know they carry religious books, and I am guessing that the general tone of the books will be more mainstream and less fundamentalist. I just assume that the exclusively Christian bookstores are more rigid in what the consider Christian.

Would a character identified as Christian be against guidelines in the larger romance realm?

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Also, I am so relieved to see some other people expressing the "Would she just die already" sentiment (although way more tectfully than I just did) regarding the Schiavo debacle. I was starting to wonder if I was the only cold-hearted Bitch around here.

I still disagree with the decisions made (although I think the judge was within his bounds--just wrong), but I can't imagine her coming back from this, without a miracle. If she isn't going to get that miracle, if she (or anyone) is going to die, quick death is better than slow for everyone involved, and the rest of us who aren't but are confronted with it, all the time.

I dunno if you could write Chick Lit about them and have it conform to those rules.

You couldn't write my very mild biography, and have it conform to those rules.

My guess is, the rules aren't just about not causing offense (although they probably largely are, because they want to appeal to the widest market). There's a big thing in the Bible about not putting a stumbling block in front of someone else. Even if something isn't specifically sinful, if it feels wrong to you, or if your doing it causes other people to feel like they're doing something wrong, you don't do it.

As an example, although more Christians than not, drink, it's always a little bit of a pleasant surprise to me, when if we're doing something with a group of people from our church, the pastor's wife asks if anyone wants to bring some wine. It's an unspoken thing in a lot of circles, where people recognize it's okay to do these things, but also recognize that those same things are "stumbling blocks" for others. It's sort of like how (religion aside) most considerate smokers will go outside to smoke, if they're visiting a non-smokers house.

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In news of me, haircut has been accomplished: [link] Now with more nape! [link]

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As an example, although more Christians than not, drink, it's always a little bit of a pleasant surprise to me, when if we're doing something with a group of people from our church, the pastor's wife asks if anyone wants to bring some wine.

Huh. I think we polished off four bottles of Fat Bastard at the minister's house on Easter Sunday. YMinisterMV, I guess. Presbyterians in general, IME, aren't too concerned with things like drinking and dancing.

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I just assume that the exclusively Christian bookstores are more rigid in what the consider Christian.

Right. But, as you say, they call themselves "Christian" when actually it's "Evangelical Christian".

Would a character identified as Christian be against guidelines in the larger romance realm?

Of course not. I can't think of counterexamples, but that's because I tend to seek out books with snark and sex.

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Presbyterians in general, IME, aren't too concerned with things like drinking and dancing.

I'm ashamed to admit that when my parents turned Methodist, my first question was "Can you still drink?"

The answer was "yes", but they're Episcopal now and likely to stay that way; my father's studying for the diaconate.

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